Answer:
Four ways in which antiretroviral drugs can prevent the formation of new viruses are:
- Inhibiting the reverse transcriptase enzyme in both nucleoside analogues and non-nucleoside analogues
- Inhibiting protease enzymes.
- Inhibiting entry by antagonizing CCR5 co-receptors.
- Enzymatic inhibition of integrase enzymes.
Explanation
Antiretroviral drugs are those used for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, making the effect of the virus on the host cell is less and preventing the development of AIDS.
This type of drug has been classified, according to their mechanism of action, being grouped into several families of drugs.
Four different ways by which antiretroviral drugs can prevent the formation of virus are:
- Inhibition of reverse transcriptase enzyme: this enzyme is a DNA polymerase capable of forming single strand viral RNA by a process that is reverse to normal DNA to RNA transcription. Its inhibition prevents the formation of viral particles in the host cell. They are divided into nucleoside analogs and non-nucleoside analogs.
- Inhibiting protease enzymes: proteases are a type of enzyme that facilitate the maturation of viral particles by breaking peptides in newly formed immature viruses. It is a way to prevent the maturation and replication of the virus.
- Entry inhibitors or antagonists CCR5 co-receptors: CCr5 is a membrane protein, found on the surface of CD4 T lymphocytes, which facilitates the entry of the virus into the cell. The drug acts as a competitive inhibitor of the viral particle, preventing the entry and infection of the host cell.
- Enzymatic Inhibition of Integrase enzymes: this type of enzyme is contained in the virus, and is capable of causing a retrotranscribed DNA to integrate into the host cell's DNA so that viral replication occurs. Its inhibition prevents the replication process.
The most effective treatments against HIV infection involve the use of two or more types of antiretroviral drugs.
